Trematode infections in freshwater snails and cattle from the Kafue wetlands of Zambia during a period of highest cattle–water contact

Abstract

A total of 984 snails, comprising nine species, were collected from six areas in the Kafue wetlands between August and October 2003 to assess larval trematode infections. Of these, 135 (13.7%) were positive. Most trematode infections were recorded from Lymnaea natalensis (42.8%), which harboured four of the five morphologically different cercariae found. No trematodes were recovered from Bellamya capillata, Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Melanoides tuberculata, Physa acuta and Cleopatra nswendweensis. One snail (0.2%) of 416 Bulinus snails shed brevifurcate-apharyngeate distome cercariae while three (0.7%) shed amphistomes. Gymnocephalous and longifurcate-pharyngeate distome were the commonest types of cercariae recorded while xiphidiocercaria was the least common. The highest prevalence rates of F. gigantica (68.8%) and amphistomes (50.0%) in cattle (n = 101) were in Chiyasa while those in Kaleya had the lowest (9.1 and 18.2%, respectively). In most habitats, infections were recorded in both cattle and snails. Critical determinants of infection may have been the distance of settlements and/or cattle kraals, the number of animals in nearby homesteads and the presence of susceptible host snails. This study suggests that fascioliasis and amphistomiasis could be major constraints of cattle production in the Kafue wetlands because favourable factors were available to introduce and maintain the infections. It further provides a starting point for some comprehensive studies on snail-related aspects of transmission and snail host ecology in Zambia.

Schistosoma mansoni and other larval trematodes in Biomphalaria tenagophila (Planorbidae) from Guarulhos, São Paulo State, Brazil

“…Results indicate a low overall infection rate of snails with larval trematodes. This is in line with findings from other studies 2,7,21,27 . The low infection prevalence could be attributed to a direct consequence of high rates of parasite-induced mortality or resistance to infection acquired by host 34 .…”

“…The low infection prevalence could be attributed to a direct consequence of high rates of parasite-induced mortality or resistance to infection acquired by host 34 . Besides, this could also be due to stream and water pressure, that difficult the contact between miracidia and snails 7,27 . The lesser diversity of snails infected with cercariae types in the Southeastern Region was observed in São Paulo, despite the findings carried by RUIZ 29,30 , MACHADO et al 22 and CARVALHO et al 5 .…”

“…The snails were collected from April to August 2007 either using a kitchen sieve mounted on a 1.5 m long wooden handle or captured directly using gloved hands 27 . In each local containing snail at least three different collections were made.…”

Genetic characterization of Fasciola hepatica from Tunisia and Algeria based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences

“…The infection with Fasciola spp. represents a major human health problem in diverse parts of Africa such as Egypt, Zambia, Kenya, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Nigeria (Haseeb et al 2002;Lotfy et al 2002;Mekroud et al 2004;Keyyu et al 2006;Mungube et al 2006;Pfukenyi et al 2006;Phiri et al 2007;Ali et al 2008), and recently, human infection cases with F. hepatica have been documented from southwest Tunisia, with prevalence infection of 6.6% (Hammami et al 2007). (Hammami and Ayadi 2008;Hamed et al 2009;Hammami et al 2007;Mekroud et al 2004;Khallaayoune et al 1991), F. gigantica on G. truncatula from Egypt and Lymnaea natalensis from Mali (Dar et al 2003;Tembely et al 1995).…”

Genetic characterisation of Fasciola samples from different host species and geographical localities revealed the existence of F. hepatica and F. gigantica in Niger

“…Infection with Fasciola represents a major animal and human health problem in parts of Africa, such as Egypt, Zambia, Kenya, Algeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania (Haseeb et al 2002;Keyyu et al 2006;Mekroud et al 2006;Mungube et al 2006;Pfukenyi et al 2006;Phiri et al 2007), and the fluke species involved in Africa is mainly F. gigantica. Previous studies have shown that F. gigantica mainly occurs in tropical zones, F. hepatica mainly occurs in temperate areas, and both F. hepatica and F. gigantica may overlap in subtropical areas (Mas-Coma et al 2005).…”